After Dinner Conversation - "Best Of 2025": Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Fiction

by Laura Mullen, A.J. Parker, Joseph S. Klapach

"Short Stories For Long Discussions…"

Get ready to dive into the most thought-provoking and intellectually stimulating discussions of the year with "After Dinner Conversation - Best Of 2025." This must-have collection features the most compelling philosophy, ethics and social issues as short story fiction from one of the year's top-rated monthly literary magazines. With a diverse range of genres, from science-fiction to historical fiction, and with contributions from both established and up-and-coming authors, this book is guaranteed to challenge your beliefs and spark meaningful conversations!

Perfect for philosophy students, fiction enthusiasts, or anyone looking to expand their mind; this book is a must-have for anyone who wants to take their conversations to the next level. Be the one to introduce your friends and family to the fascinating world of ethical and moral dilemmas. Each story comes with five suggested discussion questions that will keep you talking for hours.

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Short stories Laura Mullen, A.J. Parker, Joseph S. Klapach, Vickie Fang, Peter Mare, A.M. Howcroft, Afsane Pourazar, D. H. Parish, Terry Pilling, K.P. Sullivan, Morgan Parker, Anton I. Botha, Veronica Zora Kirin, Martin Riemer, George J. Osol, Tiffany Harris, Charlie Kondek, Babette Gallard, Levi Homstad, Sharon Frame Gay

★★★ If you enjoy this anthology, subscribe via our website (print or digital) to "After Dinner Conversation Magazine" and receive similar ethical and philosophical short stories delivered every month. (Just search "After Dinner Conversation Magazine")★★★

334 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2026

About the author

Laura Mullen is the author of nine books: EtC (Solid Objects 2023), Complicated Grief, Enduring Freedom: A Little Book of Mechanical Brides, The Surface, After I Was Dead, Subject and Dark Archive, The Tales of Horror, and Murmur. Recognitions for her poetry include Ironwood’s Stanford Prize, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a Rona Jaffe Award, among other honors. Her work has been widely anthologized and is included in American Hybrid (Norton), and I'll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women (Les Figues).

Reviews

[Eric]

I discovered this literary magazine a few weeks ago and bought this book to check out what it publishes. It lives up to its stated goal. Every story, to one degree or another, deals with some kind of philosophical question or moral dilemma. The anthology includes a nice genre range, anywhere from pure literary to science fiction. It's an interesting read. The one thing preventing me from really liking it is that some entries read more like a political or philosophical treatise and sacrifice the basic elements of story. Those weren't so fun or interesting. But luckily, there's not a lot of those.